Alkylpolysiloxanes are well known in the art due to their ability to lubricate unusual surfaces such as aluminum. The most probable reason for their ability to lubricate unusual surfaces and the probable mechanism of wear prevention involves the bulkiness of the molecule and the opportunity for intermolecular entanglement which forms thick, non-adherent films. These products have been used in hair care applications for improved gloss and film forming features versus lower molecular weight analogs. Other uses include lubricants, for example, metal, plastic, glass or rubber materials, and in textiles as fiber lubricants or in fabric finishing.
It has been know that alkylpolysiloxane fluids can be prepared by the reaction of one or more olefinic hydrocarbons, e.g., .alpha.-olefins with SiH-containing organopolysiloxanes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,418,353 issued to Brown, Jr. discloses a method of making alkylpolysiloxanes by reacting the organopolysiloxane starting materials with the olefinic hydrocarbons in the presence of conventional SiH-olefin addition catalyst.
The viscosities of the resulting products of the conventional process range from 50 to 1000 cstks. Since the process merely adds alkyl chains derived from the olefinic hydrocarbons to SiH-containing organopolysiloxane, the viscosities of the starting materials are not substantially increased. Attempts have been made to make high molecular weight methyl hydrogen fluids by reducing the chainstopper, trimethyl siloxy, of methyl hydrogen siloxane. However, the reaction mixture gels during hydrosilation with the olefin.